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Friday, April 6

Who Is Watching the 2012 Masters?

IF YOU’RE A SERIOUS GOLF fan, you’ll probably be spending many happy hours parked in front of the television set this Easter weekend. So will I. Can I ask you something? Who are you, male or female? And how old are you?

Just kidding, sort of. You don’t have to answer that, of course, but chances are you’re considerably older than the average sports fan, according to an item I read in Friday’s USA Today. More on that in a moment.

Not surprisingly, the Masters telecast is consistently the highest-rated golf telecast. There are many reasons why an enormous audience tunes into the year’s first major at Augusta National Golf Club. One of those reasons is the telecast. CBS has limited control. The men of the Masters call the shots, which means, among other things, there are far fewer commercials. I think everyone can agree that it’s a very good thing for golf viewing.

"By sports world standards, Augusta is autocratic," wrote Michael Hiestand in USA Today. "A decade ago, the tournament was aired without commercials to show the club didn’t even need sponsors."

In fact, CBS has had a series of one-year contracts ever since it started airing coverage of the Masters in 1956.

So, who are we, the collective golf fans watching the Masters? Based on last year’s viewership numbers, our average age is 56.4. That’s significantly higher than the average ages of 42.5 and 40.6 for the Super Bowl and NBA Finals, respectively.

As a group, we’re deeper into middle age. Our time is becoming more precious. Another reason why we can be thankful that we will watch much more golf and far fewer commercials on this first weekend in April.

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